Posted: 01/02/2003

About Schmidt

(2002)

by Parama Chaudhury

Parama shares a revelation: she is not a fan of Mr. Nicholson’s.

Has there ever been a Jack Nicholson-starrer in modern times that has not created some Oscar buzz for best actor? So maybe we should discount those reviews of About Schmidt that tout “a possible 12th nomination for old Jack” as the main point of interest in any analysis of the film. In fact, Kevin Smith seemed to be saying as much on TV the other day, and he even went as far as suggesting that we should ignore Nicholson’s schtick and look out for fresher talent. I’m no big fan of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, but more power to Smith for daring to challenge the inevitability of the great Jack’s triumph. About Schmidt is actually a mediocre film, and while there is no doubt that Nicholson is a good actor, there is nothing inspired or awe-inspiring about his performance, and it is only Kathy Bates’ portrayal of the confidently loopy Rebecca Wertzel, Schmidt’s daugher’s future mother-in-law, that gives the film a leg to stand on.

I would actually rather write about the latest episode of Gilmore Girls, but I have a feeling my editor will not be amused. So I’ll bear the reviewer’s burden a little longer, but I promise to make it quick and painless. Warning for die-hard Nicholson fans: stop reading now or be prepared to waste your beautiful day, sending me reams of hate mail. I generally find Nicholson only mildly annoying, but everything surrounding About Schmidt—the hype, receiving the honor of opening the 40th New York Film Festival, and most importantly, the huge portion of the media limelight hogged by Nicholson—has finally driven me over the edge. Please, Jack, retire. Please, filmmakers, don’t ask him to do another serio-comic character role. Maybe he can play Walter Matthau in his next film, so that he actually has to be someone else, and not Jack Nicholson.

OK, so here’s the story: Nicholson is Warren Schmidt, an actuary who retires at the start of the movie, and hates most everyone and everything around him, including his wife. When she suddenly dies, however, he feels alone and sets out on a road trip ostensibly to visit his daughter. He ends up wandering around the Midwest, and eventually makes it to his daughter’s wedding, where he disapproves of the groom and his family, and tries to convince his daughter to rethink her decision. All’s well that ends well: Ms. Schmidt doesn’t listen to her dad, and he goes back to his lonely life. Yes, this is another story of loneliness in middle America, but unlike the wonderful American Beauty or even Three Days of Rain, the amazingly effective indie shown at the Tribeca Film Festival, the execution is ham-handed and the final result betrays a fundamental lack of commitment on the part of the director.

Alexander Payne, of Citizen Ruth and Election fame, directs About Schmidt without any sense of direction. It is as if he is creating a portfolio for Nicholson rather than composing a coherent treatise on a topic that has become the most promising breeding ground for American film today. Not only is this story about emptiness, it is about a retired man whose work seems to have been his only interest in life. This is rich fodder, and Payne showed enough promise in both of his earlier movies, so that we can reasonable expect at least a stab at a serious study. Instead we get Nicholson in practically every frame, being as curmudgeonly as ever, but most importantly being Jack Nicholson, the big actor who plays curmudgeons. In fact, the only sequence in About Schmidt which suggests that Payne might have any idea of what he is doing, is the opening sequence in which Nicholson’s character sits in an empty office watching the clock inch its way towards 5pm, so that he can leave the office and retire. After this taught and telling foray into something of substance, Payne switches back and forth between the wide-open flatness of Middle America and Nicholson contorting his face in so many ways, that I was sure he was going to do “Heeeeeeeere’s Johnnnny!” by the end. But alas, he did not.

Is there anything good I can say about this film? Well, yes, there is: the one good thing I can say about any movie that has the good sense to include the indomitable Kathy Bates. The only sequences that are even mildly enjoyable are the ones where Bates’s character, whose son is about to become Schmidt’s son-in-law, tries to make Schmidt feel at home in her bizarre but warm way. And of course, Bates dominates every scene she is in, including every single one with Nicholson, so that by the end of the movie, you have to wonder why, if you’re going to make a movie that is basically a star-vehicle, you wouldn’t make one with Bates as the star.

OK, I promised to make this short and sweet (no, that’s not right, I meant nasty), so I’ll wrap up. Let me just list what annoys me most about this movie. First, because there are so many multi-starrers doing the rounds this Oscar season, Kathy Bates, the single best thing about this movie, may not even be nominated. Second, because critics and Academy voters alike drool whenever they see Nicholson, he will be nominated whereas the immensely talented Edward Norton in Spike Lee’s 25th Hour will probably fall through the cracks, and no one will even watch the phenomenal Phillip Seymour Hoffman in his first starring role in Love, Liza. And last, couldn’t Payne have found a meatier role for the incredibly weird Randall Wertzel, played by Dermot Mulroney? After all, he is marrying Schmidt’s daughter; couldn’t he at least have had a little fistfight with Schmidt? All right, Nicholson fans, start composing your messages NOW!

Parama Chaudhury is a graduate student, an ex-writing instructor and a budding freelance writer based in New York City.

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